Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes D-Day is coming in this Darwin Test for a number of underperforming batters.

Apart from Steve Smith’s 71 - and he was lucky not to be given out caught behind on seven - the Australian top order failed in a total of 198.

“I’m not sure if they are scared of making change or deep down they know that there might not be anything that is waiting in shield cricket underneath,” Channel 7 commentator Ponting told SEN this morning.

“But I just think there’s been a couple of years now, there’s been 12 months now where they’ve had the opportunity to make change.